Touch
by Rat
Summary: Romy. A nice day, a picnic... and a proposition.


**Touch**

An innocent question about lunch progressed into a impulsive invitation togo out for apicnic, and Rogue wondered what kind of insanity overcame her to accept. Lately, simply being in the same zip code as the other resulted in a battle. Nonetheless, here she was hastily pulling on a pair of thin gloves in preparation of said date. She watched him from above as she flew out her window and floated down to meet him. Odds were, this would be yet another date ending in a dramatic argument and so she didn't bother wearing anything special, but the gloves would come in handy should the need to slap him arise.

"So why do we keep tryin' tah do this?" Rogue asked as she gently touched her feet to the ground.

Her companion shrugged. "Why not?" He asked and picked up the basket. "You got anything better t'do?"

It wasn't the most encouraging of answers. "Nothing I'd rather be doing at least." Seeing as she didn't particularly wish to end the date before starting it, she kept her answer only slightly acidic. Were things really so bad between them that they could not even eat a simply picnic lunch together?

Rogue stayed several feet away from Gambit as they walked, and even though she kept an eye on him along the way, she was fairly certain he didn't even so much as glance at her. Even though Gambit regularly pissed her off, the lack of conversation set Rogue off balance, and she felt a somewhat insecure with the sudden lack of attention. Did this mean he finally gave up, was that the intention of the picnic?

Beside the lake they came across a blanket complete with several scattered rose petals lay out beside the lake.

"You did this?"

"Your welcome."

"Ah didn't realize this was something yah had planned ahead."

He pulled out a couple muffins.

"What if I'd have said no?"

"Den maybe I just ask someone else to take your place." He answered with an easy smile.

"This picnic. Ah just wondered if there was a reason for it."

"What if I tol' you I do have an ulterior motive?"

She watched him start eating. Ulterior motive? "What?"

"How far up can you fly, Rogue?" He asked unexpectedly.

As a clandestine plot, asking her how far up she could fly rated pretty strange. "Ah don't know. Ah never tried. Ah can fly as high as jets, but never tried further." She mused.

"Why not?"

"Cause I have tah breathe."

"You weren't ever curious?"

"No." She stared at him. "You?"

"I can't fly Rogue."

"Don't play dumb now." Rogue grabbed a muffin, feeling easier now that the spotlight was off herself. "How much can you blow up at once?"

"Depends on what it is."

"The biggest thing?"

He looked back at the mansion. "An old warehouse. De building was marked for demolition, an no one was in it."

"Well, how about your other talents? How about your charm power?" A sliver of satisfaction swept over her with the visible discomfort her question caused.

Remy sat up and looked towards the lake. "Dere's no charm power. Works bot' ways, and most o' de time don't work at all."

"If you use it, you could learn to control it." She urged, happy now the conversation had been steered away form herself.

"That be a little hypocritical for you to be saying, don't you think chere?"

Rogue stopped as though physically attacked. "That's different."

"No it ain't."

"You think ah haven't tried to gain control over my powers?"

He shrugged. "I never seen."

"And I never seen you try that charm thing either." She pointed a finger under his nose.

He batted her hand away. "Isn't that de kind of control you want over your power? To be able to put it away an forget you 'ave it for a while?"

"Of coarse, but it's different. Not like ah can just practice when ever ah feel like it."

"Why not?"

Rogue stood up, looking ready to fight. "You damn well know why not."

Remy stood as well, taking a defensive posture. "I 'ad to fight for control, have you even tried?"

"Don't you dare imply ah've never tried."

"'Ave you ever touched someone wit'out de intention of taking what they are into you?"

"Ah put you in a coma for two weeks, you should be the last one wondering something like that."

"Je souviens. In those seconds or minutes or whatever time became when de crystal wave washed over us, I know exactly what we were both feeling."

"What?"

"I never expected t' survive the wave, what'd it matter whether or not I had anyt'in left after."

"And I almost killed you."

"You didn't."

"It's too dangerous."

"Try it." He stepped towards her and held out his hand.

Rogue took a step away. "No."

"Just finger tips, if it goes wrong I'll pull my hand away." He stepped towards her again, this time she didn't move away. He took her gloved hand, ran his fingers gently up and down the back of her hand, then pulled off her glove. He did not touch her skin. "What's the worst that could happen?" He waited for her to reach out and make the contact.

Rogue closed her eyes and reached out. A shock and traveled up her arm and she jumped back. "Remy?" She asked hesitantly.

"I'm fine. It was just static Rogue." Remy didn't push her to try again.

"Did yah have to learn to control your charm power?"

"Dis ain't about me."

"It is if it's about us." It was then that she decided to let go and enjoy the moment. She floated up off the ground and twirled in the air above him, so close her hair ticked his face. "Ah couldn't always fly. Just one morning, a few days after Carol Danvers, I woke up on the ceiling." She laughed, relishing one of the few memories with Mystique she could look back on and still enjoy. "I shrieked so loud Mama thought I was being murdered. It took till mid afternoon the next day to get me down." She floated a little higher and then returned to sit beside him. "Now it's your turn."

"For what?"

"Tell me something funny."

Remy thought for a minute. There was not a lot of fun he could remember. He remembered training for the thieves guild, and he remembered some good times hiding out with Belladonna (But he knew Rogue didn't want to hear about hat kind of fun). "Trying to feed marshmallows to d' gators was interesting. We never could understand what the adults 'ad against it."

"So what happened?"

Remy shrugged. "Not much. Jean-Luc caught us an' we were punished accordingly. Coarse that didn't stop us from doing it again."

"Did you get into lots of trouble as a kid?"

"More den my share."

She came back down to earth beside him and placed a hand on the t-shirt over his abdomen. "We'll do this again. Promise?"

"Promise."


End file.
